Right before we had our last dinner in Chengdu we detoured to the visit biggest building in the world. I have read about it online on social sites and found out that this monstrously huge building was just opened end of June.

And here I am, right here in Chengdu. Of all the shrines, temples and gardens that were slotted into our itinerary, how come the New Century Global Centre isn’t, I asked my guide.

He was surprised when I told him about the superstructure. It is so new that he himself haven’t heard about it! But being the ever resourceful and accommodating guide he is; and after a quick research he arranged to bring us all to explore the place on the last day of our Chengdu. Oh I was so thrilled then! I’ll be able to step into the biggest building in the world and see for myself how is it like. Ever since reading about it in the news I had wondered how would it look like inside, what are the shopping options, what food & beverage choices available and whether there are anything particularly outstanding about this centre other than its sheer size.

Somehow it isn’t surprising to to me to hear of China taking up another “title” of “world biggest”. If you’re talking about the world’s biggest, largest, tallest or fastest, fat chances are China is somehow involved.
And China’s latest largest building in the world is 19 million sq. feet—four times the size of Vatican City and almost the area of Monaco (the 2nd smallest country in the world). Its 420 acres of floor space could fit nearly three Pentagons or 20 Sydney Opera Houses, according to the Chinese local authorities.

The indoor area is about 1.76 million square meters and a fair share of that space will be used for offices. But the building will also be home to southwest China’s largest shopping and entertainment mall, 14-theatre IMAX cinema, world-class skating rink that’s big enough to host international skating & ice hockey competitions, faux Mediterranean village (uh huh..if you can’t go to the Mediterranean, Chengdu is only 4 hours 15 mins by flight from KL!) and an artificial beach, a university complex, offices, hotels, a water park called Paradise Island, a pirate ship, 15,000 parking spots, and 2 hotels.
There seems to be a trend in China for copycat European towns; perhaps to discourage the flow of money going out of the country via outbound tourism or perhaps is to provide the people of the republic a taste of Europe minus the high cost.
Either way, I hope to visit such towns one day. I wonder if it’s as real? Oh wait, we are talking about China here right…

Anyhow at 328 feet high, 1,640 feet long, and 1,312 feet wide, the central part of the building is a 250,000 square metres ocean park with a 400-meter-long indoor “beach,” complete with the world’s biggest LED screen in the background. This 164-yard-long LED screen serving as a stand-in for the horizon as there will be an artificial sun that gives off light and heat 24 hours a day.
Yes, an artificial sun. I wish I could have seen it that day. But all these funky sections of the building is not operational as yet though the mall does have some retail outlets already in business. There’s the all time favourite Muji, H & M, GAP, Uniqlo and for the anchor departmental store it is Lotte from Korea.

This is a “sky-bridge” with a glass bottom across one end of the top floor to the other. If there are any females in a short skirt walking across it and you happened to look up, well, I hope you enjoy the “view”. 😉

The overall interior of the mall is very opulent; shiny marbles, fancy lifts, reflective glass, the use of gold colour and warm lighting. The brand names of the tenants are varied but pretty much international brands with med-high price range.

Shockingly this the gargantuan architecture took only 3 years to build. It has a distinct wavelike roof of girders and glass and all around the structure there are marked entrances N – North, E – East for easy navigation.

“The One of Everything” is the slogan of the mall. I’m not quite sure what that means but I admit it’s a huge retail space. Some interesting stores I saw was the Tex-Mex chain Chichi, the Singaporean bistro Ya Kun, and the South Korean café chain Hollys Coffee. Of course the chinese restaurants are not forgotten.

I saw a gelato outlet and couldn’t resist getting a scoop! A scoop is 22 RMB (RM11) and it was pretty good.

We were really fortunate to have Zhu as our guide. He’s flexible and would always try to accommodate our requests during the trip, whether it is for change of dining options, for more shopping time, photography/videography stops, bar and club hopping. I would like to thank him for adding this into our itinerary! 🙂

The New Century Global Center is located in an entirely new planned area of Chengdu called Tainfu New District which is just 5 minutes away from our restaurant that evening – the Shunxing Tea House. After dinner it took us about 30 minutes to get to Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.
Chengdu is also currently expanding its subway line and plans to construct a new airport by 2020, further suggesting that the city will be an economic and cultural capital of south western China.

Here is the website of the New Century Global Centre -> http://www.xsjhqmall.com/
Don’t ask me why the link is as such. I’m guessing it’s because they used the chinese name? Anyhow, for an “international” mall, they do not provide brochures in English, their website is terribly difficult to load (if it loads at all) and there’s no English option either.

Anyhow I was here, but I was not here. A riddle? Nah, just disappointed that I managed to get here; yes I stepped into the New Century Global Centre, but I have not experienced anything other than a quiet empty shell of a building! Looks like I need to wait a while more for everything to be in full swing before a re-visit!

And no, my picture below is not blurry, it’s the ever-present smog over the city that you see here.

AirAsia X flies to Chengdu from KUL 7 times a week.
The timetable of the flights are as follows:

Flight from

Departure

Arrival

Flight Time

Days

Kuala Lumpur to Chengdu

1815

2240

4 hours 25 mins

Mon – Fri

Chengdu to Kuala Lumpur

2355

0430

4 hours 25 mins

Mon – Fri

Kuala Lumpur to Chengdu

0915

1340

4 hours 25 mins

Sat – Sun

Chengdu to Kuala Lumpur

1455

1930

4 hours 25 mins

Sat – Sun

*This wonderful experience is part of our media familiarization trip by AirAsia X.

I only got to explore the shopping mall. Didnt see the hotels, MICE, etc.
But since it’s new, it did gives me the feel of luxury and sophistication on some floors (especially fashion), and very casual vibe on the other more lifestyle floors.

omigosh, that is biggggg. though i gotta say that some parts of the elevators and corridors in the pics kinda remind me of berjaya times square! though definitely a sleeker and more polished version of berjaya times square 😀

Yes, it’s such an enormous architecture!
Our Berjaya Times Square – so sad really. It’s on a prime location yet the mix of tenants and poorly maintained facade + interior really made it lost its lustre.

I should think so too!
I’m so upset I didn’t get to spend time here and have to wait til everything is opened, which may be in the next 6 months. I want to see the TV screen, the artificial sun, the beach, the Mediterranean village!